... and speaking of Vietnamese haircuts. (Week 6 Saigon)

Dear Ethel, Family and friends,

As many of you will know, I appreciate a good mullet haircut, having grown up in the 80’s. And it was by chance that riding down Nung Van Dao, our street, that we passed what could only be a hairdressers Studio. Standing outside was a guy with a perfect mullet (Bill Rea Cyrus style), another with a great muppet heavy metal cut and another two who could be dead ringers for the Pet Shop Boys from the hairline up! We have been looking for somewhere to get our hair cut and I could see that these 17 somethings had all really done their homework when it came to cutting hair, I mean they weren’t even born in the 80’s.

Getting your hair cut in a foreign country while your travelling is always a bit risky, but as no one knows you, it usually doesn’t matter, you wear a hat for the first few days when you get your photo taken. We have had our hair cut in Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey and India and not one of them spoke any English. Louise is a bit smarter on this issue, she takes a picture to show them. On the other hand, I am really good at charades. It’s amazing how much information you can impart with the scissor signal applied to various parts of your head, they all understand and in general I’ve had no problems.

Styles vary from country to country as well, the most creative barbers I have found are in Turkey. From a traditional cut throat shave to hair removal using rubberbands and naked flame, they really do a great job and finish off with a talcum powder frenzy and a shoulder rub as well. In Thailand, cutting hair is mainly a woman’s job, but in Turkey and India, It’s defiantly Men who cut Men’s hair. In Vietnam we have walked passed a lot of hair dressers and there is a lot of ear work going on, I mean they are probing around in peoples ears with long acupuncture needles, I don’t need that!

However as respectable teachers with standards to keep, we have to be a bit choosy, the Pet Shop Boys it was. It must be a generational thing, In my Father’s day everybody combed their hair forward, In my day we all combed our hair back or up or out or something? Anyway I was in the chair and the young fella kept coming my hair forward straight down my forehead. Not quite the mulletesque cut I was hoping for. In any case Louise says it was a good cut, and she’s the one who has to look at me. They finished me off with the mandatory product in the hair. and asked me if I was happy about the cut with the txt function on their mobile phone. I don’t know, what is the young generation coming to?

PS: See my Youtube video, Shave and a Haircut Istanbul
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waPJZJy6oYA

All the best for now
Ric & Louise